Attachment theory has had quite a journey. Developed by John Bowlby in the mid-twentieth century to describe how early bonds with caregivers shape a child's sense of safety in the world, it was later extended by researchers Mary Ainsworth and Mary Main into a framework that has now found its way onto every relationship podcast and first-date conversation. You have almost certainly heard the terms: secure, anxious, avoidant, disorganised. You may well have already decided whic